State’s workforce aging

A new look at Wisconsin’s aging workforce. We’ve known about it for some time, but Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance President Todd Barry says the facts about the state’s aging Baby boomer workforce are far bigger than partisan debates over jobs and the economy.

“You cannnot create jobs if you don’t have people to put in them, and when you have a big group of baby boomers retiring and a small group of young people following up, you’re going to have come challenges,” Barry said.

The state’s working age population is expected to decline two tenths of a percent over the next thirty years, which is a bigger deal than it sounds like when it comes to filling job openings. “We’re going to have to think about bringing in people from other states and other countries,” Barry said. “And that’s going to mean perhaps rethinking how we feel about in-migration (and) immigration.”

The number of retirees is expected to increase by over 97 percent, and Wisconsin just doesn’t have enough young people to replace them.